The fall of the dictatorship in Portugal (25th of April 25, 1974) brought about troubled decolonization processes in all former Portuguese African colonies. The last Portuguese nationals left Angola under a hostile atmosphere, among the remnants of a colonial war which had lasted since 1961, and on the brink of a civil war. The international airport became Luanda’s most crowded zone, occupied first by the departing Europeans, and then by Angolans welcoming their first president, Agostinho Neto. On Tuesday the 11th of November, 1975, Neto was finally acclaimed in the Largo 1º de Maio, renamed Largo da Independência [Independence Square].
On Monday, the 17th of September,1979, Agostinho Neto died. The MPLA party announced that the body of their “dearest President” was to be preserved in a Mausoleum (or Memorial), designed and built by the Soviets.
Neto’s Mausoleum would have a large impact on the re-development of the surrounding area during the 1980s. The Mausoleum complex was erected in place of a hill, Morro de Santa Bárbara. The earth removed from the construction site was displaced in trucks to the natural sandbank formerly known as Praia do Sol (soon to be renamed to Chicala 2 due to its proximity to the insular settlement). The Chicala 2 and 3 territories started to grow, with the arrival of thousands of war-displaced people to Luanda.
Planta Cartográfica de Luanda (zona da Chicala), 1982.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
Fotografia de PAULINO DAMIÃO, 1986. Arquivo Lino Damião.
